At the time of this review, written during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis of 2020, one may suggest a historical turning point in the role of China as a global power. While the Trump administration's America First policy has caused the United States to distance itself from the world, China under Xi Jinping is providing assistance to other countries. Could this be a signal that we should consider a future where China will replace America as the new world power? To assess China's calculated move today, China's Soft Footprints in Southeast Asia revisits the country's foreign relations and achievements over the past decades. It is a great read and an in-depth examination of the Chinese government's engagement and international influence in Southeast Asia.
Rather than focusing on traditional security or strategy issues, China's Soft Footprints in Southeast Asia offers a broader perspective on the interactions between China and the nations of Southeast Asia. To track China's “footprints”, the book tackles several theories and case studies that explore how the Chinese government produced, implemented, and negotiated its diplomacy with host countries in Southeast Asia.
The book is divided into eight chapters. In Chapter 1, “China's Soft Footprints in Southeast Asia: Accommodation and Contestation,” the three editors provide a brief history of Sino-Southeast Asian relations and discuss significant theories about China's international relations, as well as the concept of “soft footprint” used in the edited volume: in brief, this concept is a development of the notion of “soft power”Footnote 1 in reference to China's influence in Southeast Asia. It is defined as “the tangible presence, mark, or effect of China's exercise of soft power in the region,” including trade, foreign aid, and cultural programs (p. 16).
This introductory chapter lays out a conceptual framework for the next chapters, which retrace Chinese soft power through case studies that highlight its political, economic, and cultural aspects, and present the perspectives of the various players, namely China and the host countries in Southeast Asia. In Chapter 2, “China's Soft Footprint in the Arena of Foreign Policy: Not ‘Hiding Light’ Anymore?,” Teng-chi Chang reviews the transformation of Chinese foreign policy from Deng Xiaoping's “hide our light [capabilities]” policy to Xi Jinping's “responsible great power,” with an emphasis on China's soft power policy in Southeast Asia. As a major global power in the twenty-first century, China is undergoing tremendous adjustments in its foreign policy, especially after the US, under the Obama administration, announced its “Pivot to Asia” in 2012. Meanwhile, the “Chinese dream” (Zhongguo meng), initiated by Xi Jinping, has become a new strategy of China's foreign policy and domestic politics. Chang notes that China's soft footprints can be described as “hard,” given the Chinese government's more assertive role, for example, in the case of the South China Sea dispute.
Chapters 3 to 7 are case studies that illustrate China's relations with individual countries in this region, namely Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The contributors Ian Tsung-yen Chen (Myanmar), Ngeow Chow Bing (Malaysia), Natalia Soebagjo (Indonesia), Dennis Trinidad (Philippines), and Yumi Kitamura (Indonesia) highlight the varying degree to which these Southeast Asian countries are involved with or depend on China, with a strong emphasis on internal factors that affect cooperation, especially domestic politics. In the case of Myanmar, Chen questions whether the small state's economic dependence on China could have led it to be influenced in other aspects, including its position in global affairs. His chapter indicates that Myanmar was less cooperative, despite asymmetric relations with China. Especially since its democratization, Myanmar has been having a few reservations about supporting the Chinese government, for example in connection with issues of human rights and building a nuclear-free world. Thus, China's soft footprint may not be strong as it appears.
Likewise, the case study of Malaysia by Ngeow Chow Bing addresses the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP), Malaysia's first national industrial park jointly developed by China. Despite the financial support of the Chinese government, the delays in the project underline the conflicts between Malaysia's central and local governments, as well the political and economic role of local elites.
In the case of Indonesia, Soebagjo discusses a joint Chinese–Indonesian project for a power plant venture and shows how delays in the project were caused by a lack of understanding on how China conducts business. The project was advertised as a win-win cooperation, but unexpected difficulties proved that this was not the case: the power plant, funded by the Chinese government, was meant to be exclusively managed by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The case of the Philippines also suggests that foreign aid is part of China's soft power policy. However, this aid was not assessed by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), which monitors and reviews the provision of resources. Therefore, Trinidad argues, the lack of transparency has led to controversies and made China's aid diplomacy fail to impress its “footprint” in the Philippines.
Another case study from Indonesia addresses the re-recognition of Confucianism in post-Suharto Indonesia. Kitamura notes that this Confucian revival is an example of Chinese soft power in Southeast Asia. In addition to the cultural and economic role of Chinese Indonesians, the acceptance of Confucianism can be attributed to the Indonesian government's need for Chinese foreign aid for its political goal.
Chapter 8, the final chapter, written by Michael Hsiao and Alan Yang, examines the endlessly debatable issue of the role of the Confucius Institutes in China's soft power. Taking the Confucius Institutes in Thailand, Singapore, and Cambodia as examples, the authors conclude that their establishment and funding by the Chinese government is part of a network (guanxi) connecting the Chinese government to the host country, consisting of elites, government and educational units, and ethnic Chinese groups.
Although the contributors attempt to tie the chapters together with the theme of the “soft footprint,” the use of this concept remains inconsistent and fails to frame a broader discussion. This calls into question the theoretical framework of the book, namely whether there is a significant difference between soft footprint and soft power. While it is understood that the concept of soft power has been criticized,Footnote 2 the notion of soft footprint remains equivocal. Some of the essays reflect this vulnerability as they adopt the concept of soft power to explain a particular case study, only to shift to soft footprint in the conclusions. In these cases, soft power and soft footprint seem interchangeable and the concept of soft power could be sufficient.
Another important question raised by the framework regards the forms and tools that can be considered soft power, and how the latter relates to the notion of soft footprint. Much of the book demonstrates that Chinese soft power can be hard, especially when considering China's economic engagement in the region that comes with the package. The following quote reflects that trait: “China's soft power is imbued with ‘invasive’ characteristics, which in turn produces a ‘disruptive rather than benign effect’ on regional states (p. 16).” Parallel to the ambivalence of Chinese soft power, economic strength, when employed as a tool of soft power, can be either soft or hard. In case the authors consider China is pursuing foreign policy through these soft tools (such as trade, foreign aid, and cultural programs as seen in the book), then there could have been more discussions about China's perception of its goal: why China is doing what it is doing.
Nevertheless, China's Soft Footprints in Southeast Asia is interesting in other ways. Not only does it provide informative explanations on Sino-Southeast Asian relations to the readers interested in this subject, but it also presents Southeast Asian perspectives, some of which are alternative to the official narratives of the Chinese government. Despite a few pitfalls in the conceptual framework, the book succinctly contributes to the ongoing debate on the future of China's hegemony.
